Baltimore ranks 17th for 'brainpower'

Baltimore may pride itself on its blue-collar roots — but it definitely has the numbers to back up its white-collar cred.

Baltimore came in 17th out of 102 U.S. cities when it comes to “brainpower,” according to a new study by the Business Journals. Each market was rated on its percentages of adults (25 and older) with high school diplomas, bachelor’s degrees and graduate degrees. All figures are from 2012, the latest year for which official statistics are available.

Fueling that top 20 ranking is the Baltimore area’s high scores in both the percentage of adults with bachelor’s and graduate degrees. Baltimore ranked ninth for having the highest percentage of people with advanced degrees with 15 percent of 1.84 million adults. The ranking based on the percentage of bachelor’s degrees was 15, with 35.7 percent of adults having a four-year degree.

The big percentage of residents with advanced degrees shouldn’t surprise since Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins University, a major research institution. The health system and university employ roughly 50,000 people in the Baltimore area.

And of course, it doesn’t hurt to have the academic powerhouse of University of Maryland, Baltimore, home to law and medical schools.

Where Baltimore didn’t fare so well was in the percentage of adults with high school diplomas. Baltimore ranked 42 for having 88.6 percent of adults with a diploma.

Not surprisingly, Baltimore’s neighbor to the south, Washington, D.C., topped the charts. High-tech hubs, state capitals and university centers dominate the top echelon of the rankings. Rounding out the top 10 in the brainpower rankings are Madison, Wis.; Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn.; Boston; San Jose, Calif.; Durham, N.C.; San Francisco-Oakland; Raleigh, N.C.; Minneapolis-St. Paul and Colorado Springs.

The Business Journals’ study was based on data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.